


Misery Loves Company

by Horse Hockey (truthiness_lover)



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fireworks, Fourth of July, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 17:31:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11385003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truthiness_lover/pseuds/Horse%20Hockey
Summary: After Korea, Hawkeye invites Margaret to stay with him in Crabapple Cove for the Fourth of July. When the fireworks ignite, both Hawkeye and Margaret realize that it doesn't take much for old memories to start flooding back.





	Misery Loves Company

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I started writing two days ago, and I basically wrote it to be a stand-alone piece, but if I think of how to continue with this, I will. I hope you enjoy it, and happy Independence Day!

It had been almost an entire year since they had gotten out of Korea, and Margaret and Hawkeye still managed to write each other at least twice a week. Neither of them had expected the chain of letters to last longer than a couple of months, but Hawkeye still kept in contact with Margaret and BJ, and Margaret penned long letters to Hawkeye, and occasionally Klinger.

Sometime in May, Margaret wrote that she had a two-week leave in the beginning of July. It took Hawkeye until halfway into June to invite her out to Crabapple Cove for a week. She had accepted his invitation, deciding to forgo a visit to her parents’ respective homes for now, because it just wasn't the same now that they were divorced. Judging by Hawkeye’s letters, he seemed to be in need of a friend, anyway. He didn't outwardly admit it, but she could read between the lines and imagine that he was still struggling with what he had seen in Korea, just as she had at times. 

When she arrived on his doorstep in Maine, with a suitcase full of a week’s worth of non-military-issue clothes, she was greeted with a sincere smile and a warm hug by Hawkeye.

“Come in, Margaret! I'm so glad to see you,” Hawkeye said, his smile unwavering, but almost hidden behind his overgrown beard.

“What's up with the beard?” Margaret asked, playfully tugging at his whiskers. 

“Oh, I figured that my patients rather wouldn't see this ugly mug,” he joked.

“It suits you,” she said sincerely. 

“Thank you,” he replied, his blue eyes twinkling. “Would you like to come in?”

••••••••••••••••••••••••

The hours ticked by as Hawkeye and Margaret sat cross-legged on his couch with a cheese platter and talked in person for the first time in a year. They discussed everything about what they had been doing since they had last seen each other, to what they had heard the other members of the 4077th were up to.

“Beej actually called me yesterday with some exciting news,” Hawkeye began. “Peg’s pregnant again!”

“Wow, that's wonderful!” Margaret replied excitedly. “I'll have to get to knitting a baby blanket!”

The conversation soon turned to how either of them were dealing with the aftermath of their time in Korea. Hawkeye admitted that he had seen a local therapist once or twice, but had stopped going.

“This guy, or actually any of these guys around here, don't have the experience in being in an actual war zone. Sidney was right there, so he knew exactly what was going on. But these guys have no idea what it’s like,” he had said.

Margaret confessed that she had been feeling depressed at times since leaving Korea, and she was unsure if it was a result from leaving so many friends, or remembering what had happened there.

“I know it sounds silly, but I don't look forward to Independence Day anymore. I hear the sound of the fireworks going off, and I go back to that night when we were in that hut, being shelled through the whole night. And it scares me.”

Hawkeye nodded silently for a second, then turned to look at her. “And all this time, I thought it was just me.”

“I guess we have each other to make it through, all over again.”

Before Hawkeye could say anything, a bottle rocket exploded with a loud bang in the neighbor’s yard down the street. Hawkeye flinched, and Margaret got down on the floor with her hands clasped behind her head.

“Isn't it a little early for fireworks?!” she yelled.

“Crabapple Cove always has theirs on the third.”

“Oh, goody.”

Hawkeye slid off the edge of the couch and sat beside Margaret on the floor. He grabbed her hand, and patted her knee reassuringly to try and soothe her anxiety.

“Wait here for a second,” he said, as he abruptly stood up and walked into the kitchen. He returned moments later to find Margaret now sprawled flat on her back on the floor, with her eyes covered with her hands as the firecrackers continued to crash outside.

“I can't believe I'm acting so pathetically. I'm so embarrassed,” she said quietly. “I need to get over this!”

He got down to lay beside her on the gray carpet. “Popsicle?” he asked.

“What?” She uncovered one eye.

“Would you like a popsicle?”

“...Sure?”

“Cherry or orange?”

“Orange.”

Hawkeye handed her the frozen treat, and immediately began sucking on the cherry popsicle. As they both lay there, staring at the ceiling, his hand brushed hers, and she held onto it tightly as the light of another firework illuminated the room. He felt her pulse quicken under his fingertips, and her breathing became more rapid. 

“How's the popsicle?” he asked finally.

“Great. I just wish it had some sedatives in it to calm me down right now.”

“Here, try mine. As a doctor, I get ahold of the best stuff.” Hawkeye held his popsicle out for her to taste, and she hesitated for a moment before putting it in her mouth.

“I should have picked cherry,” she said with a small grin, offering her orange pop to him.

“Hmmm, and I should have picked orange.”

Suddenly, another especially loud bottle rocket blast shook them from their reverie. They both jumped and clung to each other, staining each other’s clothes with red and orange popsicle marks.

“Oh, God, we’re pathetic,” Margaret said flatly, as she wiped the crimson mark off the front of her blouse. 

“At least we’re not alone in that,” Hawkeye mused. “Misery loves company.”


End file.
